Spanish art conservationists are outraged over what they say is yet another botched restoration of a historic work.

The latest amateur effort to earn the disapproval of the Spanish Association of Conservator-Restorers is the restoration of a church’s 16th-century wooden sculpture of St George on horseback.

The figure at the San Miguel de Estella church in the northern Navarra province was recently repainted in gaudy colours by a local craftsman, instead of being properly cleaned by a professional conservationist.

The figure was recently repainted in gaudy colours by a local craftsman, instead of properly being cleaned by a professional (ArtUs/AP)

The national restorers’ association’s president, Fernando Carrera, said the sculpture “has been turned into a toy”.

The association’s website lists other “well-intentioned mistakes”, including a fresco restoration in 2012 that went viral after it transformed a century-old depiction of Christ into an image resembling a monkey.